The first PD James novel I've read in several years. The last one I read was "The Children of Men" which is a much better novel than movie and rather predictive of the impact of declining birthrates in Europe.
I didn't enjoy this novel, which I found odd since I have always enjoyed reading PD James novels in the past. My dislike is not reflective of PD James skill as a novelist which is considerable. Rather on reflection I found that I simply no longer have any taste for novel filled with characters overcome with doubt, uncertainty of purpose, lacking faith, lacking charity, afraid of love. Odd isn't it? When younger I thought novels of this sort, "interesting" and "thought provoking". Now I pity the characters and the society that they inhabit. Turning the page I often thought, don't they know you choose to be happy, that you choose to love those around you, that love of Christ is the way to redemption and meaning? Of course, the answer is "No" they didn't know it. Which is, of course, why Kate, lacking faith, hope and charity, could near the end of the novel could refer to the elderly Miss Wharton, as pitiful. What a terribly hopeless world Kate inhabits.
This novel provides the same terrifying insights into a dying culture that "The Girl with ..." series provided into Swedish culture on a much smaller and therefore believable scale.
